Friday, March 28, 2008

Flamboyant as Mallya

He might not be as flamboyant as Mallya nor will he have a whopping combined share of 27% as Goyal had after the acquisition. Nevertheless, Thiagarajan will be pegged neck to neck with these two hotshots, having not one but two low cost airlines in his pocket. This ambitious and passionate CEO is a management graduate and can be called as one born with a silver spoon in his mouth. However, despite being born as grandson to Karumuthu Thiagarajan, pioneer in textiles and the founder of Bank of Madura, Thiagarajan Established his own textile mill, Paramount Mills after a short stint in the family business. Paramount Mills received an award for the highest export of cotton products from Cotton Textile Export Council of India (TEXPROCIL). However, Thiagarajan wanted to fly high, not just as a pilot but as a owner of an aviation company. And he did! In January 2007, Paramount Airways won the Arch of Europe award for innovation and technology in the airline category making it the first Indian airline to win the prestigious award.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read More:-
The Sunday Indian - Greatest News weekly
IIPM, GURGAON
Maya jaal spreads far & wide!
RCOM rings in the fabricating tone!!
The Noodle House comes to India
Re-cycle...
Cricket isn’t just cricket
Puravankara gets stuck in bad weather
Harry Potter strikes a million!
Serious dangers
Colourful
Hazards related to kidney, liver and lungs
Stock ‘boom’!
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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Tested philosophy

Of course, it is to be seen in the near future whether the tried and tested philosophy of closely knitting the marketing activities and product division or the newly epitomised divorce agreement as conceived by Nokia proves to be a better option. Nokia, unquestionably a market leader, is perhaps not happy with the numero uno tag that it has been carrying for years now. Their appetite all of a sudden seems to have increased, it is yearning for more, and it wants to either own the ecosystem or dictate the terms for other players or else force them to abide by the pre set rules of Nokia. So is it time for us to expect something on the lines of Nokia Hardware, Nokia Software, Nokia Services, Nokia Backend et al – perhaps it is for us to adopt a wait and watch policy. But do mobile business, computer industry and consumer electronic businesses stand on the same platform? Perhaps not. Arja Suominen, VP, Communications , told 4Ps B&M “We continue to focus on enhancing our strong position in mobile de- vices and networks, and building the new business of consumer internet services and business solution, where we see interesting possibilities.” Interesting possibilities…but how long a business, based just on possibilities or probabilities, run. The least that Nokia should remember is: as regards design per se, it is still behind Motorola and Samsung; in entertainment, it lags behind Sony Ericsson and Motorola and for mobile games, the least spoken the better. As far as leadership in the entry level phone is concerned it stands to face a formidable challenge from Motorola and Samsung. There is that tale about the lion who is the king of the jungle who becomes supremely arrogant about his prowess and infallibility. Didn’t a fox outfox the lion in a classic flanking strategy?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Innovation and change are the primary forces

Now the question remains – why kill the very product or render it obsolete when you have spent huge sums in its making in the expensive form of R&D investments? Well, the answer is simple as it could get – to make way for its modified, newer products from its stable! Innovation and change are the primary forces which drive and dominate businesses today. And modern corporations don’t think twice before shelling out a huge amount to make their good products, better! Look at the Finnish Nokia which spent $5.14 billion during FY2006 alone – a mind-boggling 9.5% of their total revenues during the year and an appreciation of 13.6% as compared to R&D figures for FY2005! If that made you think that the Finnish are a crazy lot, the American Motorola Spent another hefty 9.6% of its revenues on R&D during 2006 – a whopping $4.11 billion and marking an appreciation of a healthy 11.6% over the previous year!

The result can be seen well enough though with Nokia launching 56 different models during the previous year and then of course, there was Motorola shining with different versions of Moto Razr like V3 and V3i and in trendy colours like golden and pink at that. And its not only the mobile manufacturers we are talking about here – Sony’s various launches of Plasma and LCD screen televisions models or digi-cams (be it cyber shot or still cameras), or even the MP3 players; Honda’s disclosure of different models of its very popular version ‘City’ and that too such a short span of time and the list could just go on and on... but it all confirms the very ‘killing’ fact – emotionlessly murdering your dearly branded product is mandatory for growth. Better accept it or die!

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Source:IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative


Read More:-
The Sunday Indian - Greatest News weekly
IIPM, GURGAON
Maya jaal spreads far & wide!
RCOM rings in the fabricating tone!!
The Noodle House comes to India
Re-cycle...
Cricket isn’t just cricket
Puravankara gets stuck in bad weather
Harry Potter strikes a million!
Serious dangers
Colourful
Hazards related to kidney, liver and lungs
Stock ‘boom’!
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, March 24, 2008

Brand Image

Now this exercise is being promoted by none other than the Indian government, which is planning to unleash an Indian brand for spices and other products to market products of small producers in the global markets. For this, India’s Spices Board is planning to invest as much as Rs.10 crores. Political motives would have a role to play in this case, definitely. But from the point of view of a small company, diluting some of the brand image of the giants is one of the most apparent aims. After all, the customer should be aware that there are other fishes in the ocean. But there are other catalysts also. After all, brand building is the key pillar of product differentiation. But then, just like the saying goes – A clever foe is better than a foolish friend. Similarly, how a brand picks up can result in a meteoric rise to the top, or a cataclysmic fall to the bottom. Clearly, Flavourit is aimed at creating a base for home-based spice makers against conglomerates like ITC, Dabur, HLL and several of their ilk. On a general basis, if the Nemos want to jump into any corner of this ocean, there’s always the fear of being overshadowed by the sheen of biggies. “Hence it becomes very important for these small market players to create a brand. That’s why today you will see a branded tissue or mat,” explains Anmol Dar, MD, Superbrands.

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Monday, March 17, 2008

What’s not hot on the Web

Now that the whole world is in the grips of the World Wide Web, it was only a matter of time before some wise guy came out with what works and what doesn’t in cyberspace. Epublisher Lulu.com – best known for its Blooker Prize (the online Bookers awards given for blogs and web books) commissioned a poll to You Gov, well known British pollsters, to find out what the most irritating words on the Internet are. Around 2,091 adults were polled for this exercise – and the results are quite a revelation! Did you know that the word ‘blog’ itself is the third most hated on the world wide web? ‘Netiquette’ (which basically translates into how you mind your manners on the web!) is the fourth most-hated word. The pride of place (position number one, that is!), however, goes to ‘Folksonomy’; that’s followed by ‘Blogosphere’ that hogs second place. The fifth most hated word is ‘Blook’ (or a book based on a blog). At sixth, seventh, and eighth place are ‘Webinar’, ‘Vlog’ (video blog), and ‘Social Networking’, respectively. ‘Cookie’ is the ninth most irritating word (the word itself means a file sent to a user’s computer after he/she visits a website). And at number 10, there is ‘Wiki’ (which means a website that is edited by its readers – remember Wikipedia?).

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Take that, you ‘comeback kid’

After several bruising knockouts, the dented champion HUL rose yet again. But with the odds continuously stacking up against it, the burning question is – Is the much pilloried Unilever getting the killer punch this time?

Adversity breeds genius. When the champion of the Indian FMCG space came under attack from several quarters, it was time for Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) to bring every ounce of managerial genius to the table & get the ship rolling. While the balance sheet is indicating healthy tidings lately, has HUL really been able to bury the ghosts of the past for good?

A bridge collapses in Minneapolis, America, before they could even dedicate a ‘London Bridge’ type song to it! A few dozen people are dead. That doesn’t shock the world as much as the fact that a ‘bridge’ could ‘collapse’, and that too in the world’s ‘most developed nation’. And what’s more, a report follows that says 70,000 bridges in the US are structurally deficient and pose a similar risk! The cost of making amends and restoring Uncle Sam’s dented pride is pegged at a whopping $188 billion. And the time it would take? A generation, or to be precise, 20 years. Sure, it happens, and even to the best of them. And a similar situation faced Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Chairman Harish Manwani, when he took over the reins of India’s largest FMCG company.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Monday, March 10, 2008

International Cricket Council (ICC)

Well, consider this: International ICCCricket Council (ICC) has already sold television rights for the 2011 & the 2014 cricket World Cup for an astounding $1.1 billion, coupled with the sponsorship sales of $500 million for the same. For the 2003 ICC World Cup South Africa spent US$3.48 million for cricket facilities, which not only created around 5,000 new jobs but also attracted nearly 40,000 foreign tourists to South Africa. In 2007 World Cup too, the sporting event generated over US$500 million for the Caribbean economy & brought in 672,000 spectators. If not for anything else, cricket essentially has to be taken forward for the creation of more business opportunity which results in creation of more & more employment.

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Saturday, March 08, 2008

War is passé; let’s heal thy neighbour

Following Pakistan Government’s approval to allow import of anti-cancer drugs from India, Dabur Pharma stepped in and started supplying these drugs to Pakistan. The company’s move is an attempt to expand overseas, in the developed as well as emerging markets. Atco Pharma & AJ Mirza Pharma are the two Pakistani pharma companies that have got permission from their health ministry to start importing. Apart from Pakistan, Dabur is also exporting drugs to Turkmenistan. Dabur has been riding high this year under guidance of the new generation of Burmans, with a net profit of Rs.1.3 billion in the first quarter as against Rs.66 million in the same period in 2006.

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Murdoch gets ‘The Journal’

Finally, he did it! Dow Jones is now a Rupert Murdoch property. News Corporation is acquiring Dow Jones at a price of $5.6 billion and this was certainly not a smooth sail for Murdoch. Four months of intense negotiations and innumerable conferences over the future of The Wall Street Journal has yielded the result. Few members of the Bancroft family, who hold 37% of the voting rights of Dow Jones, at a point of time, demanded that Murdoch also bear their legal and banker’s expenses incurred in the deal process. This was finally agreed upon and reportedly gave Murdoch what he wanted! Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, said that he was deeply gratified at the level of support he had received from the Bancroft family and its trustees. Murdoch also appreciated Bancroft family’s long and distinguished history as custodians of Dow Jones.

In order to continue with the same editorial standards and quality, people have come to expect of intellectual publications, a five member special committee has been set up. The present members are Louis Boccardi, Thomas Bray, Jennifer Dunn, Jack Fuller & Nicholas Negroponte. News Corp. had proposed the name of Negroponte while the other four were the choice of Dow Jones. The deal was done and is expected to close by fourth quarter of this calander year, a regulatory approval is awaited. There are high chances that the deal will not face any hurdle with the anti-trust approvals as Murdoch’s media property is diversified in terms of products as well as regions. Lack of concentration in one location prevents anti-trust scrutiny for this mega corporation.

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Monday, March 03, 2008

LUSHIN DUBEY

“The festival I enjoy the most is Holi. The reason being that it is completely fun filled and unrestrained. It is all about casting away inhibitions and it is enjoyable only to those who play it tothe hilt. There is an element of masti about the festival. Being the festival of colours, it is very therapeutic and the only festival in which you are allowed to go over the top because it is Holi. You can forget social norms and your formatted life and play pranks of youthful exuberance. To me it’s an exhilarating act of letting go…. In fact, it is almost like a peace summit and the hole world must play it including bin Laden…"

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